In the Sudbury sport classic that is Home Grown Heroes (published in 1982), author Frank Pagnucco did not devote a separate chapter to billiards. In fact, there is but one paragraph allocated in the last few pages of the book to the game, grouped in the two-pager section that is “Other Heroes”.

(if its any consolation, this is also where "Swimming" appear, with 5-6 paragraphs devoted to a local athlete who was making waves through much of the seventies - and would go on to win two gold medals at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles)

The billiard anecdote appears to have been added quite late thanks to the success that Natalie Stelmach (a protégée of Gabe Tarini) was enjoying at the time, capturing six consecutive Canadian Women’s Snooker Championships and teaming up with the legendary Cliff Thorburn to win the World Mixed Pairs in 1981.

The book was published a couple of years before Bob Chaperon really rose to prominence – but the truth is that billiards in Sudbury was a real big deal through much of the 20th century, with venues such as the Varsity Pool Hall, Normandie Billiards, Nationale Pool Hall and many others all part of the scene through much of the '50s and '60s and beyond.

Based on a quick scan of the countless halls that were hosting VNEA (Valley National 8-Ball League Association) matches on Tuesday evening in the nickel city, the sport is clearly alive and well - and then some - in these parts.

While the busiest locale was certainly the Rhythm & Cues setting on Lasalle Boulevard this week, we made a point of visiting the King Pin (Lounge) Restaurant at Plaza Bowl, where Freida Nassas and company were racking 'em up at the three table setting.

Born in Greece but moving to Sudbury in her early teens, this soft-spoken woman who first picked up a cue when she was just 17 (several decades ago) captured the Intermediate title at the 45th Anniversary World Championships in Las Vegas in May of 2025 – this after claiming that same crown exactly twenty years earlier, in the same city.

“I didn’t start competing until into my twenties,” Nassas noted, her uncle introducing her to the game, given his involvement as owner of Varsity Billiards at the time. “I had to be comfortable and I had to get better at pool: the weight, the angles, the shape on your next ball.”

Make no mistake: this eclectic gathering of personalities feature a language all their own – as we will allude to a bit later on. But the fundamentals of the eight-ball game – and to some extent, the snooker version that was far more popular some fifty years ago – remain relatively consistent.

Nassas noted that for as much as she honestly has no idea whether she will pocket a ball directly off the break, that is likely the one and only time that a game plan, typically three to four shots ahead, has not already been formulated in her mind.

“I am looking to make sure the balls are not tied up (off the break),” she said. “That’s all I need. We all play differently; it’s whatever you are comfortable with.”

John Mallette does not profess to be the best player in the city – not by a long-shot. But thanks to his father’s love of the game (Ed Mallette), he and his pool-playing siblings were raised on the sport / pastime that virtually everyone in Sudbury has likely played at some point in time.

“My dad had a pool table (snooker) in the house and we played as kids,” Mallette recalled. In fact, he remembers visits to his home from the afore-mentioned Cliff Thorburn. He remembers being more than a little aware of folks like Tarini and Ed Masotti and so many others who promoted the game locally.

And he remembers being grounded in the core skill sets required to hold your own when facing the kind of top-end table talent that Sudbury has so often produced. “It’s all about keeping your head down and understanding that you don’t have to swing hard to hit the ball hard,” said Mallette.

“If you watch the really good pool players, they don’t drive the ball. It’s just a really smooth stroke. As a new player, you want to learn how to put your hand on the table and just let the cue do the work.”

That, however, is but one aspect of what makes the best of the best successful. As Freida Nassas noted, one has to understand how to work the table.

“I see the table as well as the best pool players in town – but I am far from being the player those guys are,” explained Mallette. “My brother Mike is a much better player because he can move the white ball around.”

Referred to as “shaping” the ball, the basic notion is that where you leave the white ball once you sink one of your striped or solid balls is critical, setting up the next shot that you have. Playing just once a week these days, Mallette gives way to those who have mastered that craft.

“Almost everyone that is really, really good owns a pool table,” he said. “And they are working on “juicing” the ball. Freida can move the white really well – and she’s a very good safe player.”

The safe player understands that when there is no shot to be made, best to leave your opponent with an ever worse option. Part of the Sudbury quintet of Carol Sauvé, Lianne Larose, Kaylie Bigras and Margo Duncan (Breaking Bad) that walked off as world champions in Vegas in 2023, Muriel Christopher stressed that she pretty much never plays safe anymore, preferring a more carefree approach.

Though she had friends playing in the late '80s / early '90s, the Chelmsford woman was reluctant at first to take the plunge. “I was actually afraid to play because when I started, the men that were in our city at that time all seemed to be champions of some sort,” Christopher said with a smile.

“We had some of the best pool players in the country. I was afraid to play because they were so good.”

A funny thing happened, however, once Muriel Christopher had a cue in hand. She quickly became good. Really good.

The pathway, to some extent, has already been discussed.

“If you have reasoanble skills, you’re unually mapping out the table right after the break,” she suggested. “Unless you mess it up along the way, you pretty well go in that order. I’ve learned how to control the cue ball. I’ve learned how to “get out of jail”.”

Billiard player dialect, indeed.

(Christopher described the get out of jail scenario as being that situation where your opponent tries to leave you with no makeable shot)

“Sometimes, it’s tougher than others; sometimes, you don’t make it.”

But still, you return to do battle another night.

“The best thing about pool are the people,” said Christopher. “I like the competitiveness; I like winning – but these people are different. It’s a different community, a different vibe – all-inclusive, regardless of your level of skill.”

“It’s a really nice community of people with one thing in common – and that’s pool.”

And that is a sport that Sudbury knows well.